The Gateway of the Monster W H Hodgson | Carnacki the Ghost Finder | read by Greg Wagland | 1910

Carnacki is once again in his Chelsea dining room with his close friends, about to launch into another tale relating to his gentlemanly hobby of ghost busting, in company with his gadget, the electric pentacle. It's interesting to imagine this as some kind of fusion of Arthur Conan Doyle's most popular genres. I don't know if we ever learn anything much about Carnacki as a character, apart from the fact he's quite courageous and also considers maids and butlers as from a totally different species, as we might consider bonobos or ring-tailed lemurs today. In Carnacki's mind he doesn't doubt that these flunkies can always be press-ganged to help him move heavy furniture or bring him a cup of tea and a brace of McVitie's Chocolate HobNobs (or equivalent) at any moment, day or night. Although arguably he is a bit kinder to the butler, Peter, than he is to the cat in this story. Thoughts here? However the past probably was another country, notwithstanding quantum physics 'n' stuff and so is best left un-prodded with the stick of unearned superiority. Discuss. Don't get me wrong: I'm quite enjoying the old Carnackis. But there's quite a lot of, (not quite a spoiler alert, don't worry), a lot of 'ooh, there's that slightly creepy thing, aaaagh, now it's gone quiet, oooh, it's so quiet, boom, oh no, there's that thing again, I do wish it was silent again, aagh, now it's gone all silent, it's so, blah, blah, blah... Rinse and repeat lumbering jump cuts ad infinitum. But, you know, maybe I'm just being a bit grumpy today. Star sign related? Ha! At the risk of being a repetitive old nag: please subscribe and say stuff, naughty or nice, or give a thumbs up or down, seeing as that's actually a right we all earned via Magna Carta way back when. To quote from it: 'Thou shalt, all ye villaynes and square deal serfs have unto thee the inalienable right of the thumbes uppe or thummes doon. Useth itte or else looseth same but payeth alway a bigge tithe to Yew Tubbe, and maketh not o